South African Katanga Mikado 2-8-2
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| South African Katanga Mikado 2-8-2 Bas Congo á Katanga Class 201 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Builder's picture of Katanga Mikado no. 201, c. 1917 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The South African Railways Katanga Mikado 2-8-2 of 1917 was a steam locomotive used in South Africa.
In 1917, the South African Railways placed at least four 2-8-2 Mikado type steam locomotives in service. They had been built for the Chemins de Fer du Bas Congo à Katanga (BCK) in the Belgian Congo and were obtained on temporary lease to alleviate the critical shortage of locomotives as a result of the First World War's disruption of locomotive production in Europe and the United Kingdom.[1][2]
As a result of the disruption caused by the First World War, no new Cape Gauge locomotives could be introduced on the South African Railways (SAR) during 1916 and, by 1917, the rolling stock position was rapidly becoming critical, particularly regarding locomotives. New engines were almost unobtainable and spare parts so scarce that repairs and general overhauls had to be postponed to the utmost to keep engines in service. By March 1919, after the end of the war, 187 new locomotives and fourteen spare tenders were on order or authorised.[1][2]
Manufacturer
To partly alleviate the locomotive shortage, the SAR was able to lease four (six according to one source) of twenty-four new 200 Class 2-8-2 Mikado type tender steam locomotives which were built by H.K. Porter, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania between June and October 1917 for the Chemins de Fer du Bas Congo au Katanga (BCK) in the Belgian Congo.[1][2][3][4][5]
Six more of these engines were leased to the Beira and Mashonaland and Rhodesia Railways (BMR), which operated between Umtali in Southern Rhodesia and Beira in Mozambique and which also experienced a critical shortage of motive power. The locomotives were numbered in the BCK range from 201 to 224, but the engine numbers of the individual locomotives which were leased to the SAR and BMR are not known.[3]
The arrangement was probably made possible because construction of the Congolese line from the Northern Rhodesian border to Port Francqui, for which the locomotives were intended, was just being completed at the time and the full complement of locomotives were not required immediately by the BCK.[6]
